118 p.; 22 cm

A compilation of poems from Paul Ruffin's five earlier books of poetry plus new poems. The collection focuses on childhood memories of growing up in Mississippi, recent experiences in Texas, and the relationship between men and women

Includes bibliographical references

The girls -- Our women -- The woman and blood -- The sack -- The mystery for the magus -- Homing -- Old woman in winter -- Sam Johnson says to the feminist -- The feminist answers Sam Johnson -- The ancient law -- Her eyes -- The Protestant widows -- The old rule: the woman and sex -- The hitchhiker and the fat woman -- The high school English teacher retires -- The woman who made love on Frost's grave -- Comanche adultress -- Baby in a fruit jar -- In the grocery line -- Female cousins at Thanksgiving -- The female cousins teach a Thanksgiving lesson -- At the ruins he holds her -- Swimming nude with her in the moonlight -- Returning to the Luxapalila with her -- Returning to the Luxapalila alone -- Passing nasty notes at the academic conference -- Coronado Heights -- The tight-rope walker -- On Susan's toes -- To a student on the front row -- To Patsy: the tenth grade -- Linda Meekins and the catfish -- The boys -- Boy -- The old game: boy in training -- Redneck with hair on his back -- Gerald's rubbers -- Buddy philosophizes after cutting the bull -- The animal at the zoo speaks of his keeper -- To the celibate -- He muses on the general nature of things -- In love for the first time, he sits . . . . -- After sex he testifies -- He sees her face in the dark -- The exam -- At eighty he speaks of beauty and truth -- He is retired now -- The land and the sea and all the pretty children -- Burying -- Petrified log -- Pitch pine -- Drought -- Sawdust pile -- The rabbit -- Root-pruning -- The storm cellar -- Gigging frogs -- Batting rocks -- Deep-sea fishing -- Winter trout -- Redfish -- Shrimping -- After the blow -- Sand dollars -- My daughter gathers shells -- To a child putting together a puzzle: prairie pursuit -- Crackerjacks -- In your innocent age -- On my daughter's fourth birthday -- When we heard the learned astonomer explain -- Explaining to her how a poem begins -- Blackberrying -- Fever -- Explaining how the dead are different -- Dressing up -- Nesting -- The blue balloon -- My son at communion -- A miscellany -- Frozen over -- Jody Walker: the first voice -- Circling -- Cleaning the well -- The trap -- Calf in an abandoned well -- Lighting the furnace pilot -- Trimming a tree at forty -- Death at the Y -- Hotel fire: New Orleans -- After the fire at the old folks home -- Wyeth's winter fields -- Wyeth's distant thunder -- The leopard muses on his spots -- Llano Estacado: the naming -- Pompeii -- The practice is over, Tom Hardy -- To the twenty-first century

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